Daddy Shark
by Stellaluna.3
Summary: Now that Jess Mariano seems to be a permanent fixture in the lives of Rory and her son, Logan Huntzberger decides it's only appropriate to invite Jess to join him and his friends for a nice, friendly little game of poker. What could possibly go wrong? Post-AYITL


**A.N. I just couldn't help myself once the idea occurred. Many thanks to Siss7 and PrincessAndula for feeding the bunny!**

It still felt a little odd to Rory that she wasn't the one hosting her son's second birthday party, but sharing custody with one's ex requires compromises. So here she was, still feeling a little overwhelmed by the bouncy castle, hired balloon animal _artiste_, and pony rides that Logan Huntzberger deemed necessary to celebrate Richard Logan Gilmore's second trip around the sun. She personally thought it was a little much, but Logan was especially anxious these days to cement his position as "World's Best Dad" and was pulling out all the stops. He seemed to feel he had some competition, and though Rory thought he was being a little paranoid, she could kind of see why… Another man had recently asked her to marry him, and this time she had said "yes." He wasn't just anyone, either. Her heart had (finally) become irrevocably lost to Jess Mariano, and what's more, little Richie seemed to love him nearly as much.

Jess stood with her now, his warm hand at her back, as Logan casually sauntered over, glass in hand.

"Well," he sighed with satisfaction, "the party seems to be winding down. How's my little man holding up?"

They all looked over at Richie running in circles around his Grandma Lorelai, laughing madly... and then he suddenly burst into tears. His balloon tiger had popped.

All three adults winced.

"Richie's... getting a little tired," Rory laughed weakly. "I think we'd better get him to bed soon, actually. It's been a big day."

Logan nodded sympathetically. "It has! Make sure you bring him by so Daddy can say good-bye first, alright?"

"Of course we will. Thanks for throwing him such an amazing party."

"Thanks for letting me. So!" Logan suddenly turned. "Jess, how are you doing, man?"

The atmosphere immediately shifted. Rory could feel Jess' hand tense on her waist, but his face remained impassive. She was suddenly reminded of the wary, stone-faced boy she met all those years ago, shutters up behind his dark eyes. She hadn't seen that version of Jess in years.

"Fine, thanks," he replied stiffly.

"I know we didn't exactly get off on the right foot all those years ago, did we?"

"Not really, no," Jess drawled.

Logan was still smiling, but there was a hard gleam in his eye as he continued, "But here we are again! You always seem to keep turning up, don't you."

Jess stared right back. "Yes, it does seem that way, doesn't it."

Oh boy. Rory was starting to get an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu as she looked back and forth between the love of her life and the father of her son.

"And Rory here tells me you plan on sticking around this time! So I guess we'd better get used to each other, hadn't we? You know, it's not every man who would be willing to raise another man's child, so you must be a real stand-up guy."

Jess always had brought out the absolute worst in all her boyfriends...

"Richie's a great kid and I get to be with Rory, so I fail to see what great sacrifice I'm making."

"Well, when you put it that way… I guess I fail to see it, too."

The two men were blatantly glaring at each other now.

"Logan…" Rory warned between clenched teeth. He put his hands up as if pleading innocence.

"Hey, I'm just being friendly, Ace!" he grinned. "No hard feelings! I just thought, since we're going to be in each other's lives for such a long, long time now, why don't we bury the hatchet and start over? For Richie's sake, if nothing else…"

Rory shifted uneasily. It certainly _sounded_ good...

"Well… Thanks, Logan… That's very mature of you."

Logan waved his glass dismissively. "Well, even I had to grow up sometime. So, my friends and I were about to start up a little card game and I thought I'd ask if you wanted to join us, Jess?"

"Oh… I don't know, Logan…" Rory interrupted awkwardly.

"Aw, come on, Ace! Let the guy live a little! You can stand to let go of him for one night, can't you? Do you play cards, Jess?"

"A little."

_Not much,_ Rory thought wryly.

"You ever play poker?"

"I know the basics."

_...but what IS "much?"_

"Well, that should be fine. I'm sure the guys would be happy to explain some of the finer points to you if you ever feel a little lost…" Logan's grin had started to take on that predatory quality that had always reminded her of a shark.

This was _not_ happening!

"Can I just… talk to Jess for a minute, Logan?" Rory gritted out, not waiting for his answer before dragging Jess away. "We'll be right back. Excuse us." She smiled icily.

"You know, you don't have to do this," she said, once they were out of earshot. "Richie's tired, you can make your excuses and just come home with us if you want to."

He tucked her hair behind her ear, eyes warm with affection.

"I know. But he is right, Rory. When we started this thing, I knew that you came as part of a package deal. I knew that," he emphasized. "And I accepted it. And Logan, for better or worse, is part of that package. Neither of us want Richie growing up with the kind of father you and I had. You know you want Logan involved. But I'm involved now, too. And I'm not going anywhere. So we're gonna have to learn how to co-exist. I won't deny I still don't understand what you ever saw in that guy, and I doubt we'll ever be each other's favorite people, but I can sit and play cards with his idiot friends for an hour or two if it makes things easier for Richie."

This. This was why she fell in love with him. "That's… Jess…" _Focus, Rory!_ "Ok, that's really wonderful of you, but I just don't know if I trust the purity of Logan's motives here, either. I want to believe him, but I don't know, I just kept getting this passive-aggressive vibe, and…"

"Huh! Really?" His eyes went wide in mock surprise. "I must be really bad at reading him, 'cause I thought he was totally sincere. Maybe I wouldn't be so good at poker after all..."

"Jess! I just don't want this to turn into a repeat of the first time we went to dinner…"

"Ah, you mean the thinly veiled hostility and not-so-thinly veiled speculation about the size of my… novel? Nah, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I'm expecting."

"Gross."

"Hey, I'm just talking about literature here, Rory, what are YOU thinking about?"

"Shut up! And then there's _you_…"

He adopted an air of shocked innocence. "Me?!"

"Yes, you! You're not gonna just haul off and punch him or anything, are you?"

He rolled his eyes. "We're in our _mid-thirties_ now, Rory. I save any fisticuffs for the gym these days. Or does your mother's overindulgence in 'Rocky' jokes just not register with you, _Adrian_?"

She had a sudden memory of hearing a rumor about her father and Luke brawling in the town square years ago... but she quickly pushed that worrying idea away.

"Ok, _fine._ But you won't let him get to you? What if you get ganged up on and decide I'm just not worth all this trouble, or lose Truncheon in some ridiculous bet, or…"

He chuckled as he took her face in his hands and kissed her. "Hey, _relax_. I can handle it. Nothing he can say can change my mind about you, ok? You're stuck with me. Now how about getting Richie home before nuclear meltdown occurs, huh?" He arched one eyebrow at her significantly before starting to head back to where Logan was standing.

Before Rory could stop him, he was saying "Ok, I'm in."

Logan smiled. "Really? Excellent! I'll just say goodbye to the birthday boy and then we'll get you all set up."

Rory sighed in defeat and stroked the sleeve of Jess' shirt. "Richie and I will catch a ride with Mom and Luke. Are you _sure_ you want to do this?"

He held her gaze steadily. "Yep."

"Ok, well then…" She leaned up to kiss his lips softly. "I love you," she reminded him. Logan shifted uncomfortably.

Jess smirked, "I know."

"Oh, gee, _thanks_, Han Solo!"

"Hey! You were the one freaking out that you were feeding me to the wolves, I was just reassuring you! I love you, too."

Jess gave her another quick peck on the lips, squeezing her arm before saying he was going to go say goodnight to Richie. And then it was just Rory and Logan, standing awkwardly next to one another.

"You know Ace, you've really got that death stare down," Logan remarked drily as he took a sip from his drink.

"_Play nice,_" she said sternly.

"Don't worry, I'll have him back to you in one piece. In fact, I'll even cover his share," he offered with mock generosity. Putting the _patron_ in _patronizing_, apparently. (Oh, Jess will _love_ that!) "I won't let him gamble away your life's savings, it'll be fine, Ace."

"As if that's what I'm worried about! Just… You're Richie's dad and he loves you, ok? The fact that he loves Jess doesn't mean he's going to stop loving you. This doesn't have to be a competition."

Logan's eyes were fixed on Richie, his little arms wound tightly around Jess' neck like he never wanted to let go. He tossed the rest of his drink down.

"Well, it was nice seeing you. Enjoy the rest of your evening, Ace. I'm going to go say goodbye to my son."

Oh, this was going to be _great_.

….

It was 11:30, and Jess wasn't back yet. Rory was a mess of anxiety. Why, oh why hadn't she stopped him? She was the worst fiancée ever, just leaving him at the mercy of her jealous and vindictive ex and all his friends! She had loved Logan, but despite his more admirable qualities, she knew he excelled at making others feel very, very small when he wanted to (and sometimes even without thinking at all), and Colin, Finn, and Robert would cheerfully follow Logan's lead. She was just working herself up into a panic over visions of Jess angrily driving off, never to return, when she heard the sound of a key in the lock. She sprang to her feet just as the door opened and a tired-looking Jess appeared. She just about melted in relief.

"Hey! There you are!"

He looked surprised to find her awake.

"Hey. You shouldn't have waited up, you must be exhausted. Richie go down ok?"

Rory felt impatient. "He fell asleep in the car within the first five minutes. But how are _you_? Was it awful?" She bit her lip anxiously.

Jess sighed and flopped down next to her on the couch. He turned his head to look at her for a moment before smirking wickedly. "It was… everything I hoped and expected it to be."

"Hoped? But you said you were expecting it to be like the first time you met Logan."

"I did. And it was. With a few… noticeable differences."

"But… Jess, what does that _mean_?!"

Jess rummaged in his pocket before pulling out a thick stack of bills and dropping it on the coffee table in front of her.

"It means that I don't think any attempts to put me in my place worked very well."

"What is-" Rory snatched up the pile of money and started flipping through it. They were hundreds. A whole stack of them. "Oh. My. G-… Jess!" She stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Sadly, I don't think I'm going to be invited to any more poker games in the future."

"Jess!"

"What?"

"What happened to, 'Oh, we're in our mid-thirties now, Rory, let's make things easier for Richie?'"

"Hey, it's not personal, it's just business. I was just playin' by the rules… It's a friendly wager between gentlemen; that's how the game works."

"_Gentlemen_? I think _that_ description left the building as soon as _you_ entered it, _Dodger_."

He gasped playfully. "I'm wounded! At Christmas, your grandmother told me that I 'clean up surprisingly well.' You can't just take that away from me!"

"You _do_ clean up surprisingly well," Rory mused, smiling wistfully.

"_Thank you_. So… I figured we could use that to set up a college fund for Richie, if he's into that sort of thing," Jess suggested casually.

Rory stared at him. "But... Logan offered to set that up for him a week ago, and you sulked for the rest of the night!"

"I've grown up since then. Hey, it's still Daddy Warbucks' money paying for it, just… through different channels."

"Oh my G-."

"I won't even take any of the credit! When the kid graduates highschool, we'll have Richie send a nice card thanking Daddy Dearest for funding his education," Jess paused. "...And Uncle Robert. And Uncle Finn."

Rory shook her head in disbelief.

"I honestly _never_ thought I'd be saying this, but I feel like you're turning into my Grandmother right now." She suddenly thought of something and frowned. "Wait a second… No Uncle Colin?"

"Ahh, that..." Jess smirked, and then reached into his other pocket, withdrawing a piece of paper which he handed to Rory.

"What's this? A phone number and… No."

"Oh, yes."

"The 'Saucy Milkmaid,' Bar Harbor, Maine?!"

"Uh-huh."

"Colin bet his _yacht_?! Of course he did… But… _you_ won it?"

"Yep."

"A _yacht_. You won Colin's _yacht_ in a card game?"

"Yeah, I know. It must be hard for you to live with this kind of regret... If you'd only run away with me when I asked you to, you might not have had to steal one."

For a moment, Rory was speechless… and then she wasn't.

"OH!" she cried, "Oh, I cannot _believe_ you just said that!" She smacked him hard on the arm.

"Ow!"

"You _jerk_!" She went for the back of his head this time.

"Watch it!"

"Oh, the gloves are OFF now, mister! Next time I talk with my mother, I am telling her EVERYTHING about the Swan Incident."

Jess' eyes snapped up in horror. "Aw, come on!"

"And you thought the Rocky jokes were bad. Oh, she is NEVER going to let you live _this_ down!"

"I was just kidding! You wouldn't do this to me," he implored.

"Well, I thought _you_ wouldn't bring up _my_ past like this, but here we are!"

"I'm _begging_ you. You want money? Look, here's five hundred bucks!"

"And steal from Richie's college fund? What kind of mother do you think I am?"

"The best kind," Jess kissed her lips earnestly. "And the prettiest..." He kissed her cheek... "The most intelligent..." her neck… "The kindest... sexiest…"

She sighed blissfully, "Ok, ok. I'll be merciful. But just this _once_. So don't let it happen again, understand?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. So… what are you going to do with a yacht, anyway?"

"Prob'ly sell it. We could get another printing press at Truncheon."

"And if being in the book business ever stops working out for you, at least we know you'll have a future as a riverboat gambler, _Gaylord Ravenal_."

Jess snorted with laughter, "What'd you call me?"

Rory grinned. "I know all about your deep, dark, secret love of old musicals; you know _exactly_ what I called you."

"Shut your mouth."

"Make me!"

Neither of them spoke again for a long, long time.

**This story is dedicated to my great great Uncle Frank: Vaudeville performer and consummate prankster, who once won a riverboat in a game of cards. I don't know what he did with it, but he lived to 100.**


End file.
